A Merry McCord Christmas
by TeamElizabethMcCord
Summary: "So this is Christmas/ and what have you done/ Another year over/ And a new one just begun/ And so this is Christmas/ I hope you have fun/ The near and the dear one/ The old and the young/ A very Merry Christmas/ And a happy new year/ Let's hope it's a good one/ Without any fear"- "Happy Christmas (War is Over)", a song performed by many, lyrics written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
1. Chapter 1 (Elizabeth)

**A/N:** Each chapter of this fic will be from the perspective of one family member, plus one or two dealing with the State Department/White House. This one is Elizabeth's chapter. Thanks for reading! Any reviews/comments are greatly appreciated. Special thanks/shout-out to YM (queen-bess-mccord) for encouraging me to write this!

Enjoy!

* * *

"How is it already December?" Elizabeth asked her husband. "The kids haven't even given us their Christmas lists yet."

"I don't know… I think we're all still recovering from the election and the cyber attacks." Henry replied, brushing his teeth. "Time has been altered."

She finished putting on her PJs and plopped down on the end of their bed. He was right, she thought. The last few months had been really hectic on all fronts. And with the results of the election on top of that… she was ready for a break from the outside world.

"Do you ever want to just drop everything and go live in a cave in the middle of nowhere?" she asked.

"Yeah, every day," Henry joked, pointing his toothbrush at her. "There's a listing online for a 2 bedroom cave in the Adirondacks for only $400,000, utilities included. How does that sound?"

Elizabeth could help but burst out laughing. He always knew how to make her laugh at times like this.

"Yeah, ok!" she replied.

Henry sat down next to her and started rubbing her back. "I'll call the realtor in the morning then."

Elizabeth sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, comforted by his presence.

"Do you remember what you got me for our first Christmas after we got married?" Elizabeth asked.

Henry giggled. "Oh god, those hideous L.L. Bean Eskimo boots!"

"They were NOT hideous! I really did love them… I wish I still had them." Elizabeth murmured between her laughs.

"What are you two laughing about?" Jason asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

"Oh nothing, Jace," Henry said. "What's up?"

He handed them a highly adorned certificate. "So this happened today…"

The certificate read "Congratulations to Jason McCord for winning First Place in the 5th Annual Winter Essay Contest".

"Wow, Jace, this is amazing!" Henry exclaimed. "I'm so proud of you!

Elizabeth echoed his praise and added, "What did you write about?"

Jason blushed, and handed her a copy of the essay. "See for yourself…"

" 'The most inspirational person in my life is my mom, with my dad coming in at a close second. Let me explain why…' " Elizabeth read out loud, tearing up in the process. She was so touched by the gesture. "Oh Jason…"

She stood up and gave him a big hug, despite his obvious embarrassment.

That night, she went to bed the happiest woman alive.

* * *

"Good morning, Ma'am," Blake said when Elizabeth answered the door.

"Blake, please tell me you're not here on business… wait, why are you wearing jeans?" she asked, puzzled. "I don't think I've ever seen you wear jeans before…"

"No, Ma'am." Blake stepped aside and pointed to Jay, Matt, and Daisy wrangling a large Christmas tree from the back of a truck. "We're here to drop that off. Henry called early this morning. He wanted to surprise you and the kids."

Elizabeth couldn't believe her eyes. "Wow, Blake, that's so…"

"Good morning, Ma'am! Where would you like it?" Jay announced.

Unbeknownst to her, Henry was sneaking behind her and setting up the tree stand.

"In here," Henry shouted from the living room.

Elizabeth stepped aside and directed them to the spot.

"Mom, what's going on?" Alison asked sleepily as she walked down the stairs. Her eyes lit up when she saw the tree.

"Wow mom, it's beautiful!" Alison exclaimed.

"It is, isn't it?" Elizabeth replied. She turned to her staff and said, "Thank you so much, guys."

"No problem ma'am," Blake replied.

"Would you guys like some coffee?" Henry asked.

"We also have some pastries if you're hungry," Elizabeth added.

A chorus of yes's ensued, so everyone migrated to the kitchen.

Elizabeth enjoyed sitting down with her staff members and talking to them in a non-work setting. She realized that despite working with them for a few years, she didn't really know them that well.

* * *

Later that day, after digging out the decorations from the attic, Elizabeth, Alison, and Stevie started decorating the tree. To keep up a family tradition of theirs, Henry and Jason went to pick up a pizza.

"Have you decided what you're getting dad this year?" Stevie asked.

Elizabeth chuckled. "I actually have a good idea. I've been thinking about giving him the same gifts that I gave him for our first Christmas as a married couple."

"Aww that's so sweet mom." Alison smiled. "What did you get him?"

"Moon shoes, a David Bowie CD, a sled, and some candy." Elizabeth grinned, remembering how much he loved the gifts back then.

"Nice!" Stevie approved.

"God, how do we even still have these?" Alison asked, pulling a long dusty line of retro bubble lights from a box. "They look like they've been around since the dawn of time!"

Stevie and Elizabeth laughed.

"Hey! Those were all the rage when I was a kid!" Elizabeth scoffed. "My parents loved them so much…"

A bittersweet smile grew on her face. "Plug 'em in! Let's see if they still work!"

She did her best to brush off the sadness she felt every year around the holidays since her parents passed away.

The lights did, in fact, still work when Alison plugged them in. They decided to use them, despite the fact that a ladder was necessary to reach the top of the tree.

By the time the got all the lights on the the tree, and had the popcorn popping for the garland, Henry and Jason got back with the pizza.

"Man, traffic was murder!" Henry said. "It's like everyone else had the same idea."

"That's okay! You got back at the perfect time. The lights are up and the popcorn is cooling." Elizabeth explained. "Let's eat!"

After they ate, they made the garland, hung it, and put on their favorite ornaments. They blasted Christmas music and told stories of Christmases past. They even had a silly-string fight.

It was undeniably one of the best days that Elizabeth had in a long time. For once in her life since she became Secretary of State, she had a whole day without any interruptions from her job. She longed to have more of those days, especially if it meant that she could spend it with her family.


	2. Chapter 2 (Henry)

**A/N:** Thanks so much for all of the reviews! As always, they are very much appreciated.

* * *

"I never took you as an L.L. Bean kind of guy," Jose joked with Henry as he sat down in front of him at the coffee shop.

"Personally I like REI better, but I'm looking for a pair of vintage boots for Elizabeth, like the ones I bought her for our first Christmas after we got married." Henry replied. "So L.L. Bean it is!"

Jose laughed. "That's sweet. I'm surprised that you still remember what you got her. You've been married for what? 25 years?"

"26 this year." Henry grinned. "What's up, Jose? I know you didn't ask to meet with me to talk about Christmas gifts for my wife."

"You got me," Jose said after taking a sip of his coffee. "Russell Jackson wants us and the State Department to coordinate a Christmas party for Conrad."

"How much time do we have to plan?" Henry asked.

"A couple weeks," he replied.

Henry sighed. "How many people are we looking at?"

"Not a lot. Just the inner circle."

"Alright…" Henry said, his bemusement clearly showing.

"I don't know why Russell wants you, me, Elizabeth to take care of it. He was in a bad mood, so I didn't ask." Jose shrugged. "I guess he wants it more personal. And he knows that we can keep a secret. A entry-level staffer is more likely to blab about it sometime, somewhere. Conrad deserves a party that's truly a surprise. A party he only has to show up at will be good for him."

Henry wasn't so sure that a party would help a lot. He thought Conrad deserved a long vacation more than anything. "Well, I think we should be sending him on a month-long cruise, not throwing him a party. But Russell's wish is my command."

"Trust me, we don't have the budget for the vacation he truly needs," Jose quipped.

"Too true," Henry laughed. "I'll talk to Elizabeth about it tonight, and then we can get together with her and her staff to figure out the logistics."

"Sounds great," Jose replied.

* * *

"Hey, you're home early," Henry said.

"Shocker, I know." Elizabeth murmured, focused on getting her high heels off without tripping. "All of the fires have been put out for the day, so i thought I'd come home."

These days that was a rarity, he thought, so naturally he was ecstatic.

"The kids should be home soon, why don't we start making dinner?" Elizabeth suggested.

"Or we could fool around on the couch for a few minutes…" he retorted, raising an eyebrow.

A few minutes turned into about 20, but they didn't care. They hadn't had much alone time lately, let alone of the "fool around" type, so dinner could wait.

"So much for 'a few minutes'..." Henry started.

Elizabeth looked at her watch, sighed, and patted his knee. "Dinner time. What've we got in the fridge?"

"I was thinking fettuccine alfredo. I got some of that fresh pasta that you like." he replied.

She grinned. "I love you, Henry McCord."

That grin made his heart skip a beat every time.

He leaned over for one last kiss before they got up.

As they started cooking, the kids, one by one, made their way home.

"The more help we have, the faster it'll be ready!" Henry shouted up the stairwell.

"I'll be right down," Stevie yelled back.

"Let me go change," Alison said on her way up.

"Jason?!" Elizabeth chimed in.

"Oh alright, I'm on my way," they heard from stairway.

They divided the work and got dinner on the table in no time.

"Who wants to go see Moana this weekend?" Henry asked.

"Lin-Manuel Miranda worked on it, so the music has to be great!" Elizabeth added.

Everyone's eyes darted to her. "What? I'm not totally clueless about pop culture! That and Jay told me about it after he and his family went to go see it the other day…"

"Oh, so your policy adviser said it was good, huh?" Stevie joked.

"Hey, it _is_ his job," Elizabeth shot back with a playful grin on her face.

Elizabeth and the kids bantered back and forth about it for a few minutes. Henry loved watching them, so he didn't participate much.

"So do you guys want to go see it or not?" he cut in.

They agreed to go on Saturday morning.

* * *

"Jay was right, Moana was really good," Henry said on the way out of the theater.

"Yeah, it was!" Elizabeth added. "I'll have to tell him."

"Can we go get some ice cream?" Jason asked.

"Please, dad?" Stevie begged.

"We haven't gone to Cold Stone in a really long time!" Alison added.

Henry and Elizabeth looked at each other, then back at the kids.

"Last one to the motorcade has to get the mystery flavor!" Henry said, breaking into a sprint.

His family ran after him. Even Elizabeth, who had decided to wear high-heels that day.

They all got the the car at the same time, so no one had to get the mystery flavor.

Everyone got their favorite flavors: Henry- rocky road, Elizabeth- vanilla toffee crunch, Stevie- strawberry, Alison- peppermint, and Jason- bubblegum.

About halfway through eating their treats, both Henry and Elizabeth received a slew of texts from Russell regarding their so-far vague plans for Conrad's party.

"Is something wrong?" Stevie asked.

"Oh, no," Henry said. "Russell Jackson is just exploding over the Christmas Party we're planning for Dalton."

Elizabeth laughed. "He's mad that we don't have any specific details set in stone yet. We're meeting on Monday to figure it out. And he damn well knows that."

Everyone laughed.

"Is it an official government party, or a personal one?" Stevie asked.

"A personal one," Henry replied.

"We thought it more appropriate after that election. Less stress, more relaxed." Elizabeth put her phone away.

"That's really nice. Do we get to go, then?" Jason asked.

"Sure, if you guys want to," Henry said, looking over to Elizabeth for approval.

"I don't see any problems with that," Elizabeth affirmed.

Alison's face lit up. "What color scheme are you thinking for the decorations? Where is it going to be? Is it going to be formal or informal dress? What kind-"

"Whoa, slow down, Ali," Henry interjected.

"I should have thought of that earlier!" Elizabeth thought out loud.

"What?" Alison asked.

"Why don't you help us with the decorations? With your interest in fashion and all…" Elizabeth clarified.

"That's a great idea!" Henry beamed. He knew how much Ali loved fashion and design, and the fact that she'd get more attention from him and Elizabeth, it was perfect. Plus he thought that being a member of the planning committee for a party for the President of the United States would be a good experience for her.

Alison didn't know what to say, besides thank you.

The family finished their ice cream, and left.

On the way home, Henry couldn't help but think of how proud was of his kids. They were growing up so well, he thought, and he knew Elizabeth felt the same way.


End file.
